Star Refracts into a Rainbow, and the Result is Stunning

This is a real picture. The brightest star in the sky turned into a rainbow as its light was refracted through our atmosphere.

See the full-size photo below:

The dog star called Sirius, which resides in the sky over Pakistan, was caught on camera by amateur astrophotographer Roshaan Bukhari. He focused a telescope on Sirius, and then took a long-exposure photograph while panning the telescope. The colors of the image were not digitally altered at all, although the contrast was increased. Bukhari was pleasantly surprised that he was able to capture such a stunning photograph, as the Earth's atmosphere is usually a detractor. "This was the first time I could see the effects of the distortion of our atmosphere in a way that would not make me curse them," he says.